Like a golem or gargoyle, Earthshaker was one with the earth but now walks freely upon it. Unlike those other entities, he created himself through an act of will, and serves no other master. In restless slumbers, encased in a deep seam of stone, he became aware of the life drifting freely above him. He grew curious. During a season of tremors, the peaks of Nishai shook themselves loose of avalanches, shifting the course of rivers and turning shallow valleys into bottomless chasms. When the land finally ceased quaking, Earthshaker stepped from the settling dust, tossing aside massive boulders as if throwing off a light blanket. He had shaped himself in the image of a mortal beast, and named himself Raigor Stonehoof. He bleeds now, and breathes, and therefore he can die. But his spirit is still that of the earth; he carries its power in the magical totem that never leaves him. And on the day he returns to dust, the earth will greet him as a prodigal son.

Whether blocking an enemy's escape, dividing their forces, or shattering the ground beneath gathered foes, Earthshaker is at his best when he strikes without warning. Whatever survives the aftershocks still has a swing from his mighty totem to look forward to.

Earthshaker's role as support revolves around positioning, map awareness, and timing. Earthshaker's positioning directly correlates to the effectiveness of his skills, where being on the border of a fight, aiming inwards, is ideal and almost always crucial to landing fissure on the greatest number of enemy units. Common places to be are at towers behind primary farming heroes because towers hide your presence and offer the element of surprise.

Stay out of enemy range when your spells are on cooldown. This can be mitigated by breaking line of sight or by purchasing survival-based items such as Ghost Scepter and Force Staff.
Earthshaker works great against teams that create summons to push due to the fact that his Echo Slam ultimate deals more damage if there are more units hit.

In general, Fissure and Aftershock are maxed first. A single point in Enchant Totem is taken at around level 4 to add another stun from Aftershock in many situations due to the low cooldown of Enchant Totem. Because Earthshaker's attack damage is not high at the beginning of the game, extra levels in Enchant Totem are both unnecessary and unhelpful.

Fissure is used primarily for initiating stuns on the enemy. The stun can help set the opportunity for other spells that are difficult to land on moving targets. Fissure is an effective means of trapping/protection, creating a wall to protect your allies and cut off enemy escapes. Other techniques involve timing your fissure to counter enemy stuns and control the team fight better, stunning the enemy to prevent them from repositioning or casting spells. This makes enemy damage output as inefficient as possible and disrupts their spell combos.

Earthshaker becomes a roaming ganker that is known for his stuns and crowd control. Earthshaker can block lanes, disconnect foes from their allies, and ultimately be a chaotic presence in fights at a great range. Being active with Earthshaker and coordinating ganks are key to playing a successful Earthshaker throughout the game.